Content warning: This story contains descriptions of suicide.
Former Kansas City, Kansas, Police Detective Roger Golubski died by suicide with a stolen gun on the morning his federal trial was supposed to begin, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday.
No foul play is suspected in Golubski's death, according to a KBI news release.
Golubski, 71, died on his back porch by a gun shot to the head, around 9 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2024. Agents rushed to Golubski's house after he failed to appear in federal court on charges of violating several women’s civil rights through rape, kidnapping and sexual assault.
A KBI press release said the agency couldn’t determine just where Golubski got the weapon, a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield handgun, but traced it back to a Kansas City, Missouri, woman who reported the gun was stolen from her vehicle in 2022. There was no connection found between Golubski and the woman, the release said.
Golubski left behind five suicide notes, and in his last few moments tried to make several phone calls to family and his attorney, Chris Joseph, according to the KBI. Joseph was already in Topeka at the U.S. District Courthouse.
Golubski, who had an electronic monitoring device, apparently left his house around 8:30 a.m. to drive to the federal trial — despite the fact that the one-hour drive would have made him late to his 9 a.m. court appearance — but he never made it to the courthouse.
After making the phone calls, Golubski returned home, according to the KBI. His roommate reported that she heard the gunshot around 9 a.m. and called the police.
An autopsy done Dec. 3, 2024, showed a single gunshot wound to the temple and concluded that his death was a suicide, KBI said. A toxicology report had no significant positive findings.
Golubski's suicide ended many of his victims’ hope for accountability in the federal case that began more than two years ago. Golubski was arrested by the FBI in 2022 and released on home arrest, a decision that angered his victims.
"I was angry because there were so many unanswered questions, for one," said Niko Quinn in a conversation with KCUR's Up To Date the day after Golubski's death. "And for two, where's my justice? What are they gonna do for the community and the victim's families that are still here that still have unanswered questions?"
Quinn says Golubski pressured her into making false testimony during a double homicide case in 1994.
Golubski was notorious in Kansas City, Kansas, called a “dirty cop” and accused of abusing women, putting innocent men in prison, and terrorizing the Black community for decades.
In a second federal case, Golubski was accused of protecting a drug dealer who was running a sex trafficking ring of underage girls from a Kansas City, Kansas, apartment building. Golubski had pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988, or go online to chat at 988lifeline.org.
